Reflection Confession of St. Augustine Essay
St. Augustine uses his focal point on the fact that God may be in the same extent which wisdom and truth exists. which is as constructs or thoughts in the head but non world. He shows that there is grounds of God but non a powerful Godhead. To Augustine. God exists but requires him to be for the footing of his statement. St. Augustine focuses on memory as an unconscious cognition. which finally leads him to his cognition of God. Augustine is no longer stating events of the past. but merely of present clip. Augustine starts his analysis of memory in a description of a house.
The depot is a topographic point where objects are retrieved. deposited. and re-stored ; merely like the memory where images are kept. and in demand recovered. Augustine gives a word picture of memory as if it was mercenary ; it is dependable. everything has its ain topographic point in it. and it can incorporate limitless information. The memory exists in all things in the yesteryear. nowadays and no 1 can take it off from us. St. Augustine believed that the thoughts in someones memory must hold been in his head before he learned it. waiting to be recognized.
Augustine suggests. “It must hold been that they were already in my memory. conceal off in its deeper deferrals. in so remote a portion of it that I might non hold been able to believe of them at all. if some other individual had non brought them to the bow by learning me about them” ( Ten: chapter 10. 218 ) . In acknowledging an thought the inclusive memory he has in his head. In add-on memories that are neglected faux pas back into distant topographic points of the memory and these memories evolve going new 1s once more. Augustine so started to concentrate on the hunt of God in his memory.
The hunt of God in one’s memory was disturbing affair for Augustine ; God can non be attained through the powers of memory. which beast’s posses. Augustine is suggests looking for God in a different topographic point. outside of the memory. An issues which is brought up by Augustine is the effects of non happening God in the memory. In order to retrieve something. it must be in the memory. Therefore the inquiry raised is: “How. so. am I to happen you. if I have no memory of you? ” ( Ten: chapter 17. 224 ) . This is the same inquiry that was raised in book I of Confessions: How can we cognize God if we don’t cognize what he looks like? Un like St.
Augustine’s reply in book I. in Book X he suggests that even if something is lost from one’s memory he should look for it in his memory. Augustine believed that one’s memory could reform the cognition of God. likewise to happiness that could be happening in puzzling parts of the memory. “… and inquire all work forces whether they wished to be happy. all would answer they did. But this could merely go on if happiness itself. that is. the province which the word signifies. were to be found someplace in their memories” ( Ten: chapter 20. 227 ) . Augustine suggests that one had the cognition of felicity in the yesteryear ; hence he knows what it is.
“It may be that we were all one time happy separately. or it may be that we were all in Adam. the first sinner” ( Ten: chapter 20. 226 ) . Augustine concludes that he can non happen God in his sense. his emotions or his head that is changeable. Augustine asks where he can happen God if he is non in his memory. and concludes that there is one feature of God that can explicate it. God is surpassing “Whether we approach you or go from you. you are non confined in any place” ( Ten: chapter 26. 231 ) ; God transcendent Augustine’s head where of all time he was looking. In order for God to exceed the head. it should hold been known foremost.
Therefore. it can be observed that the hunt for God is still an interior hunt. Theological anthroplogy is the statement of understand both God and understand what is to be human. An unfastened inquiry. what is it to be human is in a sense that every actions of an person and the communities determine what we as worlds and the universe is like. The lone manner to reply the inquiries can merely be deteremined by what will go on to the universe because of what we cause. In the relation to the treatments the thoughts of St. Augustine and theological anthropology which is the construct of ‘person’ .
